


your fire is burning deep

by kitty_cupcake



Category: One Direction (Band), Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Coming Out, Eventual Smut, Fluff, M/M, Minor Character Death, Other characters will appear, Panic Attacks
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-24
Updated: 2019-02-04
Packaged: 2019-10-14 12:38:14
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 9,412
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17508788
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kitty_cupcake/pseuds/kitty_cupcake
Summary: Louis Tomlinson is the son of a very powerful and influential alpha and business man. While Louis is forced to do how his father wishes in terms of university, sexuality and much more, he meets Harry Styles. A new werewolf with a troubled past and many many walls.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So, this is FANFICTION! Nothing in here is real, so please don't get offended. 
> 
> The werewolf thing is based on the TV series TeenWolf, but I think you don't need to know the show in order to understand what's going on. The important stuff will be explained throughout the fic, so no need to panic. 
> 
> Enjoy!

The flat could be a lot worse. The light brown wooden floor and the big windows make it look sunny and friendly and the living room is spacious enough for a big couch, an armchair, a few bookshelves and a TV. The kitchen and the bathroom are small but clean and seem to contain everything two students could possibly need during their time at university.

Harry is sure that he would have loved it a few months ago. 

Now, he barely looks at it while he carries his bags and cardboard boxes inside. 

He looks around for his bedroom, only to find two doors with post-its on them, one of them saying **H.S.** , the other one **L.P.**. Harry opens the first door and finds a nice, sunny room with a bed, a desk, a wardrobe and even more bookshelves. The university really seems to think that students generally have a lot of books and - well, in Harry’s case, they are quite right. Half of his boxes are filled with a variety of books, so the many shelves will come in handy.

Twenty minutes later, all his belongings have been transferred to his room and he has even started to unpack his clothes, when Harry hears the sound of the front door opening and closing again. He listens to quiet footsteps and a few seconds later, there is a friendly _”Hello?”_ floating through his closed bedroom door. Harry puts down the lavender jumper he was just about to hang into his closet and shuffles into the living room to greet his supposedly new flatmate. 

A gentle-looking guy is standing in the middle of the room, with short, brown hair and equally brown puppy-eyes. A wide smile appears on his face when he spots Harry and then he walks over with an outstretched hand to greet him.

“Hey”, Harry says with a small smile while shaking the other guy’s hand. “I’m Harry Styles.”

“Liam Payne. Nice to meet you, Harry.”

“Same”, he replies. He crosses his hands behind his back and toes at a non-existent fuzz on the floor. “So, we’re flatmates then, I guess?”

Liam, who had turned around and is now busying himself with inspecting the television, looks up again. 

“Yeah, it’s great, isn’t it? I’m really looking forward to all this student in university stuff.” He appears to be so happy and joyful that Harry can’t help but smile a little, despite his own lack of anticipation.

“Sure. It’s gonna be … uhm, great.” Harry takes a deep breath and stares at his toes for a few seconds. “Listen, I’ve already started to unpack, so I’ll go and … finish.” 

Before Liam can as much as look up again, Harry has already disappeared into his bedroom, where he quietly shuts the door and sits down on his bed. He sighs and lets himself fall backwards onto the mattress, arms spread out and eyes closed.  
Not for the first time in the last few days, he asks himself how _the hell_ he had gotten into all of this. Well, okay, he _had applied_ for this scholarship and was quite happy with his choice but everything else was just a mess. To put it mildly. A few months ago, he was in Manchester with his family and a handful of friends, happy and all that, and now … now he is in London, all by himself and not even _entirely human_.  
Harry sighs again and rubs the heels of his hands into his eyes in order to stop the burning of fresh tears. No, he won’t cry again. He’d cried enough for a whole life and would not start again now. He swallows hard, gets up quickly and continues to stash away his clothes  
.  
Okay, he could totally do this. He has the scholarship, he has enough money at his disposal to get through university and his flatmate seems to be really nice. 

Yes, he can do this. 

xxxxx

“Hellooooooooo! Anybody here?” Louis bursts into his new flat like a minor hurricane and throws his bag on one of the plush armchairs in the living room. Two doors open and Louis spots one familiar and one very unfamiliar face. 

“Zayn”, he says with a smile. He has known Zayn for ages and although he knows that his father has explicitly have them put together as flatmates so Zayn can keep an eye on him, he is somehow glad he did. Not because of this eye-keeping-bullshit, but because he and Zayn are friends. Best friends, even. Zayn is the son of his pack’s (or his father’s pack’s, really) Druid and is therefore destined to become his successor some time in the future. So, eventually he will be Louis’ Druid and this knowledge brought them even closer together. 

Zayn greets him with a wave and smile, while the unknown boy is walking brightly towards Louis, pulling him into a hug. 

“Hi, it’s Niall Horan! You are Louis, right?”

Louis nods but doesn’t get the chance to say anything before Niall starts talking again.

“I switched my bedroom with yours, yeah? ‘Cause now my room is further away from yours and Zayn’s and you won’t be too disturbed by me playing me guitar all night, so we can live happily ever after together in this flat without one of you killing me eventually.”

Louis needs a moment to process Niall’s fast way of talking - which says something with Louis himself being a fast speaker - but then he grins and pats the other boy on the shoulder.  
“Yeah, sure. Wouldn’t want to get rid of any bodies, would we?”

He turns to Zayn and sees him grinning to himself, shaking his head in amusement. Niall positively beams.

“So, are you two gonna help me bring the rest of my stuff in here?” Louis asks, batting his eyelashes.

Zayn merely snorts and makes his way back to his room, thus unable to see Louis flipping him off. 

“But you will, will you? As a compensation for my stolen room?” Niall laughs, but agrees and follows Louis out of their flat and to his car. They are lucky their room is on the ground floor, so they won’t have to carry all his bags up countless of stairs. 

“So, you’re Irish?” Louis asks the blond boy who throws the strap of one of the bags over his shoulder and hoists up one of the many cardboard boxes that are waiting in Louis’ big car. 

“Yeah, the accent always sells me out, right?” He laughs again and Louis gets the impression that Niall is a literal sunshine, which is quite nice. He himself always enjoys a good laugh, so they probably will get along well.

“Why did you come to London then?” They walk back inside and put the bags and boxes down on Louis’ bedroom floor. A nice bedroom, by the way. Sunny and friendly, but a bit small for his standards.

“The music courses are much better here than where I come from. And I want to make it, you know?”

“Go big or go home.” Louis states and laughs when a big grin appears on Niall’s face. “Yeah, I get that. So, you’re good with your guitar?”

“Obviously”, Niall states solemnly while they make their way back to the car.

A few minutes later, all of Louis’ belongings - or everything he wanted to bring here, there’s a lot more of his stuff at his parents’ house - are sitting on the wooden floor, waiting to be put in their rightful places. 

“Thanks, man!” Louis pats Niall’s back and throws himself onto the big couch in the living room. “Hey Zayn, you can come back outside, we’re finished!” He shouts and barely three seconds later, the black-haired boy appears with a grin and walks over into the kitchen, where he grabs a bag of potato crisps.

“Little fucker”, Louis mumbles, watching Zayn sitting down on the armchair and munching on his crisps. 

“You still need to unpack”, Zayn says and Louis throws him a dark look. He makes himself comfortable on the couch and ignores this statement. Instead, he focuses on Niall, who had settled down on the other side of the couch with a content smile. “Can you please talk to me, so I don’t have to listen to that one over there?” He nudges his head in Zayn’s general direction and rolls his eyes. 

“Sure. Oi, hand me a few of your crisps, will you?” Zayn throws a handful of crisps at Niall, who laughs and miraculously catches all of them. No one would assume that they met Niall only like half an hour ago. They fit, that’s what they do. 

“So, Louis Tomlinson”, Niall starts and throws the crisps into his mouth. “What are you gonna study here in good ol’ London?”

Oh, great topic. Not. 

“Uhm, business. I guess.” It’s not like he had much of a say here, so. It was his father’s decision, thank you very much. He sighs, grabs a strand of his hair and pulls lightly. He hates the fact that his father decided this for him and it didn’t matter in the slightest, that he did _not_ want to study this bullshit. Fuck him, honestly.

“You guess?” Niall doesn’t seem to be convinced.

“Yeah, well, that’s what my dad wants. I’m much more into drama.” He shrugs and fiddles around with the hem of his black shirt. It’s probably better he doesn’t get too deep into this topic now, otherwise he may start shouting and swearing again and that’s not what he wanted to do on his first day at university. He had fought with his father for days, weeks even, because of all this and in the end, it hadn’t changed a single thing. He decides, Louis yields. Not happily, not quietly, but in the end, he doesn’t have any other choice, does he? His dad is much too powerful and influential for Louis to disobey him and he hates this fact with every fibre of his heart. 

But as long as he is here, he intends to make the best of it. 

“Anyway, how about we go out for a drink?” He looks expectantly from Niall to Zayn.

“I’m in, of course.” Niall seems to understand that Louis does not want to talk about his courses and lets it slip. Good lad.

“You still need to unpack, Lou.”

“Oh c’mon, _mum_! I can unpack tomorrow. Or next week. Let’s have fun tonight.” Zayn rolls his eyes so hard, Louis wonders if it actually hurts. But he knows that his best friend is only trying to do his duty, namely being a good influence on Louis. Well, tough luck. “Come on, Z.” 

“Yeah, yeah, I’m coming with you.” He smiles and gets up, probably to get himself ready for the pub. Zayn spends a lot of time with his hair and to be quite honest, it’s worth it. In an absolutely platonic way, Louis has to admit that Zayn is really gorgeous and when he has his hair done he looks downright irresistible. Cruel world. 

“Okay, departure is in thirty minutes”, he announces and while Zayn lets out a disapproving grunt, Niall just claps his hands once and disappears into his room. 

xxxxx

 

When the evening arrives, Harry is quite satisfied with how his room looks now. He has put all his clothes away, his books are sitting on various bookshelves and a few scented candles had found their places here and there. Two pictures are now on his walls, one of a sea of roses and the other one of a beautiful sunset. Some people might find it weird that a guy likes to have pictures like that on his bedroom walls, but for Harry it’s somehow comforting. Calming. He feels good with them and he’d actually never cared about what other people thought about him. So, that’s that. 

Finally, he decides that it’s time to leave his room and face the world outside. Or his flatmate, at least. 

“Hey”, he says, when he spots Liam on the couch, watching some kind of sports on the television. He looks quite comfortable in his sweatpants and his jumper. 

“Harry”, Liam greets him with a smile and turns his focus back on the television.

“Uhm, mind if I sit?”

“Of course not, go ahead.” Liam waves his hand to indicate that the rest of the couch or the armchair are all at Harry’s disposal. Harry hesitates and then sits down next to the other boy on the couch. It takes him a few seconds to realize they are watching American football (who watches this, seriously?). As he has absolutely no idea about the rules of this sport, he chooses to play with his fingers and stare at the TV as if he’s quite interested in the game. They spend a few minutes in silence, but then Liam seems to notice Harry’s not really paying attention.

“You okay?”

“Huh? Oh. Oh, yeah, sure. I’m just -” He looks at Liam a bit helplessly. “- quite lost here, actually. I’ve never watched American football before.”

Liam laughs kindly and turns off the TV.

“No, you don’t have to. Just keep watching, really.” Harry didn’t mean to interrupt him or make him feel obligated to turn off the game. He just wanted to spent some time with his flatmate so he wouldn’t hide in his room and … socialises instead. That’s what he wanted to do, or at least that’s what he had told himself he _should_ do. 

“Nah, it’s okay.” Liam smiles at him. “Do you want to … go out or something? Have a beer and talk?”

It’s been quite a while since Harry has spent an evening at a pub and somehow he really wouldn’t mind going out tonight. Just have one or two beers and the chance to get to know Liam a bit. They will be flatmates the next few months at least, after all. 

“Yes, I’d like that. Just let me get changed.” Harry stands and walks into his room, where he changes into skinny black jeans and a loose green button-down, which reveals a bit of his swallows tattoo. He uses his fingers to comb through his curly hair and lets it fall around his face. 

Fifteen minutes later, they step into the pub near the campus, which is warm and crowded with tons of other students who also had the idea of going out on their first day here. They need a few moments, but finally they find a free table right at the back of the room, where they settle down. 

“Wow, I didn’t think there would be so many people.” It’s not like Harry minds, though.

“Yeah, looks like we were not the only ones who had this idea.” Liam shrugs and stands up again to get the first round of beers at the bar, while Harry busies himself with watching the people. Most of them look like they’re around his own age. A few look a bit nervous, probably because they are surrounded by new people in a new city, a few look like they just belong here. Happy, laughing people, who have fun with their new or old friends and enjoy their first day at university. Harry smiles. He can’t remember when he had last felt so happy and carefree like they do, but it’s good to see other people like that. It makes him feel a bit better, actually. 

Liam returns with their beers and sits down with a content smile.

“Cheers”, Harry says before he takes the first sip. He likes the taste of beer, even though he can’t get drunk thanks to his new powers. His body processes the alcohol so fast that he doesn’t even get the chance to feel drunk before it’s worked out of his system. 

“So, Harry, you’re not from London, are you?”

“No, I’m not. I grew up in Manchester.” Harry really, really does not want to talk about himself. Like, ever. But he knows that he can’t just ignore Liam’s questions. He never was a rude kind of guy, so. Better stir the conversation away from him. “What about you?”

Liam tells him a little about his home and his family, what his old school was like and how he feels about coming to London alone. Harry has always been a good listener, so he lets him talk and asks the right questions at the right times. After half an hour, he can genuinely say that he likes Liam a lot. He is a very kind and gentle guy with a big heart, who loves his family and friends and cares for frankly everybody. He got a sports scholarship for this university, but also attends some business classes, so he and Harry will probably have a few courses together. 

“Do you have any siblings?” Liam asks in another attempt to get some information from Harry.

“One older sister. Gemma.” He _had_ one older sister. Like, past tense. But that’s a piece of information he’s not quite ready to share yet. “Do you want another beer? I’ll get the next round.” He waits for Liam to nod and then stands up and makes his way over to the bar.  
He has to wait a few minutes for the bartender to notice him (there are quite a few people waiting with Harry), but then he orders two beers, pays and turns around to walk back to their table. 

He hasn’t made more than two or three steps when he notices him.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, here's the next chapter. If there are any questions regarding the werewolf stuff (or anything else, really), just feel free to ask.
> 
> ENJOY!

** Chapter 2 **

Louis, Zayn and Niall arrive much later than intended, mostly because Louis took his time and needed an hour to get ready instead of the thirty minutes he himself had announced. Yeah, well. He does want to look good when he goes to a pub, so. He’s quite satisfied with the result, though. His hair is styled into a soft and messy fringe and he wears vans, tight black trousers and a red shirt that hangs low on his collarbones. Dressed to impress or something like that.

“Dear God, what are all these people doing here?” Zayn mutters and makes a face. He’s not a fan of crowds and if Louis hadn’t put a hand on his back to push him further into the room, he surely would have just turned around to go home. 

“C’mon Z, you and Niall go find a table. I’ll get the drinks.”

Louis watches the two boys leaving to find an available table and turns around to make his way to the bar. He looks down for a second to check his wallet and when he looks up again, he sees him.

He looks into bright green eyes. He sees dark, messy curls, a loose button-down that hugs a slim body and exposes a bit of his chest and skinny skinny skinny black jeans, which leave absolutely nothing to his imagination. Like, nothing. He looks back up into the beautiful eyes and finds the boy staring back at him, while he makes his way in Louis’ direction, apparently to get back to his table. He comes closer and suddenly time seems to go by extra slowly. It’s like they pass each other in slow-motion and for a second, Louis wonders if he somehow was thrown into a dramatic rom-com. He can’t help but turn around to watch the boy walking away and finds himself smiling when he sees that Curly is looking back at him, too. And he’s smiling. And oh, dimples. Louis’ eyes widen and he quickly turns around again to continue his way to the bar. He’s so distracted he nearly walks into a girl who glares at him as if he had just murdered her cat. He tries to pull himself together and leans against the bar to get the bartender’s attention.

Five minutes later, he sits down on the chair next to Zayn, three bottles of beer in his hands. 

“I have just seen the most beautiful person on this planet, I swear,” he declares and puts the bottles on the table.

“Yeah, where’s she?” Niall’s face lightens up and he makes a show of looking around, as if he can guess who Louis is talking about. Zayn, on the other hand, just quietly laughs into his beer.

“Just look for curls and green eyes.” He winks at Zayn while Niall keeps looking for the mysterious girl. Well, good luck with that. 

“I can’t find her. Come on, tell me, please.”

Louis’ eyes wander over the crowd and a few moments later, he spots the boy at the other end of the pub, sitting with a brown-haired boy. They are both smiling.

“Over there, with the boy with the puppy eyes.” 

All three of them look in the direction Louis pointed at. Niall looks properly confused while Zayn’s only slightly narrows his eyes.

“But that’s a boy,” Niall states.

“Yeah, well, I never said it’s a girl, did I?” Louis laughs and watches Curly drinking his beer. God, he looks good even from the distance.

“Okay, you can keep him then. I don’t go a man.” Nialls seems to be amused, but returns his attention to his drink and the two boys in front of him. 

“Hey, don’t knock it ‘till you try it.”

“I never said I haven’t tried it.”

Now it’s Louis’ turn to look surprised and a second later they all burst out laughing. Well okay, Niall and Louis are laughing while Zayn merely snorts into his drink. 

“And then what? You didn’t like it?” Zayn asks, obviously curious.

“Nah, not my cup of tea. I kissed a guy and it was, well, disgusting actually.” They laugh, because imagining Niall kissing a guy and then turning away completely disgusted is kind of hilarious.

“Okay, fair enough. But you don’t mind, do you?” Louis really couldn’t live with a homophobe, so he needs to know. 

“No, obviously. Whatever floats your boat, mate.” They smile at each other. That’s settled then.

They maintain a comfortable conversation after this, where they all talk a bit about themselves and their lives so far, Louis and Zayn conveniently leaving out the parts where Louis is a werewolf and Zayn a Druid. It’s not that the blond boy doesn’t seem trustworthy, but firstly they were always told to keep it a secret and secondly … well, that’s hardly a story for the first evening together, is it?

xxxxx

Harry wakes up early the next morning and for a second he can’t quite remember where he is. He looks around in confusion, blinking against the early morning sun and finally realising that he is lying in his new bed in his new flat at university. Ah, yes. University.  
He rubs his eyes to get rid of the sleep that’s still lingering there. He had another night of restless and fidgety sleep, disturbed by cruel dreams which caused him to sweat through his clothes. Great. Harry sighs and for a moment he only listens to the sound of his surroundings. He lets his supernatural sense of hearing wander and finds the apartment to be empty. Yes, definitely no second heartbeat in here, so Liam must have gone out to go for a run or something. He had told Harry the day before that he likes to do that in order to keep in shape.

Harry gets out of bed and makes his way over to the bathroom where he gets rid of his sweaty clothes and steps into the shower. The warm water feels so good on his tense muscles and he finally starts to relax after a few minutes under the spray. He sighs again and leans his head against the white tiles, closing his eyes. 

The first lectures are about to start tomorrow, so he and Liam decided to go and explore the campus today. Harry’s a bit nervous regarding the upcoming classes, mostly because it had been such a last-minute decision to come here at all. He is still uncertain if it was the right decision to take the scholarship and attend this university, but well. He had to get away from _there_ and he had to do it quickly, so he didn’t have much time to consider his options and make pro and con lists. So, here he is and he’s not going to change that any time soon. To be honest, he doesn’t even know where he should go instead, so it’s not like he has a big list of options he can go through. He’ll just have to stay here and try to handle it.  
He wonders whether his mom and sister would have approved of this path, were they here to witness it, but he thinks so. They had always wanted what was best for him and taking a scholarship to attend a good university surely is a wise move for one’s future, even if it feels like he’s running away from his past. Well, okay, there’s nothing left to run away from, but that’s just semantics.

Harry had been standing under the hot water far longer than expected and only the sound of Liam coming home pulls him out of his thoughts. He quickly turns off the water, steps out of the shower and wraps a towel around his waist. 

He spends the entire day with Liam and once again finds him to be very pleasant company. It’s really easy to talk to him, especially since the other boy doesn’t press topics Harry obviously does not want to talk about. So they wander around the campus, finding good places to buy coffee and tea, laughing at silly jokes and getting to know all the important buildings for the starting semester. In the evening they settle down on the couch together and watch a movie and Harry somehow feels much better than he did after he woke up in the morning. Maybe, university wouldn’t be too bad, after all. 

xx

A few days later, Harry finds himself sitting in one of the business classes he doesn’t attend together with Liam. They do have some of them together, but as Liam’s focus is on sports and Harry also takes courses in music, they ended up in different business courses as well. 

He’s sitting in one of the back rows when suddenly someone clears their throat next to him. Harry lifts his head and looks into blazing blue eyes which are quite familiar. Oh, it’s the boy from the first night at the pub. Harry vividly remembers those very blue eyes which were staring at him as if he was able to look right into his soul. His gaze had given him goosebumps, but not in a negative way. More in a really thrilling way that made him feel quite curious about the other boy. And then he had smiled at him and Harry had nearly run into a table. Well, not his best moment, but fortunately the other boy had already turned around and hadn’t seen his mishap. 

He’s still staring at the boy with the soft brown hair and nearly misses the words that come out of his mouth. 

“Do you mind if I sit here?” His voice is raspy and bright and Harry has to mentally force his skin not to get goosebumps again. Quite unsuccessfully, admittedly. 

“What? Um, no. No, of course not.” He makes room for the smaller boy, who sits down next to him and pulls a laptop out of his bag. 

Harry tries to get his focus back to the front, where the professor has just walked in and is about to start the lecture. He doesn’t even know why he is so affected by this boy … he isn’t easily affected by anybody and he certainly never was by a boy. Well, okay, to be quite honest, he has never been overly attracted to girls either, so. Whatever.

“I’m Harry, by the way”, he says mostly to keep his brain from thinking too much. 

“Louis.”

Harry smiles and focuses back on the professor who is talking about business plans. 

For almost half an hour they are both silent, occasionally taking notes, Louis on his laptop and Harry on his notebook. He doesn’t like using his laptop in classes and prefers to leave it at home. 

Harry has started to relax again and has put his elbow on his desk and his chin in his hand, when Louis speaks again.

“So, you’re werewolf, are you?”

Harry twitches so hard, his notebook and pen are sent straight to the floor and once more, he’s really glad he left his laptop at home, otherwise it might have suffered the same fate. He stares at Louis, who is looking at him calmly . 

“What?”

“You are a werewolf,” he merely states again, the tiniest smile visible on his lips. 

“You -, I -, what are you talking about?”

“Relax. I can _smell_ it.” He can … oh. So this must mean …

“You … you are -?”

“A werewolf, yes.” Harry inhales sharply and looks around carefully, but none of the people nearby seem to take any notice of them. 

Harry tries to concentrate on Louis’ scent, but all he can smell is a pleasant whiff of strawberry shampoo and something a bit more spicy. Okay, Louis seems to be much more trained with this whole werewolf stuff when he’s able to hide his supernatural scent. Harry knows it’s possible with a lot of training but he himself is far too new in this business and didn’t have much time for something like that yet. Perhaps he should start soon. 

He stares at Louis with wide eyes, not sure how to proceed from here. Harry’s experience with other werewolves is quite limited, but he was told that a lot of them are fairly hostile towards their own kind. A fact he never really understood.

It must be quite obvious that Harry is slightly freaking out, because Louis looks at him with a friendly smile.

“There’s no need to panic. I just thought I’d set things straight immediately.”

“O-okay.” He lowers his gaze and then remembers that his notebook and his pen are still on the floor. He bends down to pick them up and when he sits up again he notices that the other boy is watching him. 

“You okay?” He really seems to think that Harry can’t handle this situation and to be honest, he’s not wrong.

“Yes, of course. Why?” 

“Just asking. You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

Harry laughs a bit nervously and focuses his gaze back on the professor without really seeing him. 

He really tries to hide his emotions, it’s just that … Louis hit kind of a sore spot. Well, this entire werewolf thing is a sore spot for Harry, reminding him of everything that happened in the past three months. And he really, really wishes to forget it, which is why he tries to ignore the fact that he now belongs to this supernatural world most of the time. He just can’t think about it. It’s enough that his past haunts him in his dreams every night, he really doesn’t need to think about it when he is awake, too. 

He closes his eyes, before Louis can see the glowing of his werewolf eyes that’s surely visible right now, willing the thoughts and emotions to go away. It’s really a lot easier to handle the situation when you don’t … well, handle it. Don’t think about it, just pretend it never happened. It works, mostly.

Harry tries to even his breathing and opens his eyes again, ignoring the fact that Louis is still looking at him and trying to get his attention back to the lecture. 

Louis looks away eventually but Harry is not able to take in a single word of what the professor says the rest of the time. He can feel Louis’ presence next to him as if there were huge spotlights pointing at him and more often than not Harry has to remind himself to keep breathing. Damn it, really. 

The lecture comes to an end and Harry is ready to jump to his feet and leave the room, when the professor makes one last announcement. 

“I want you to stay with the person next to you for the rest of the term. There will be a project you have to work on together which will start next week.” 

Great.

xxxxx

Okay, the thing is, Louis really hadn’t expected any of this when he had approached the curly haired boy. Harry.

He hadn’t been able to stop thinking about him since he had seen him in the pub and after recognizing him in the lecture room, he had just decided to go for it. Only when he had sat down next to him, he had noticed the familiar scent of a werewolf. And oh boy, he really hadn’t considered that Harry might react so badly to his revelation. He had been close to shaking, panic in his eyes and fear radiating around him. Louis had felt the need to comfort the other boy, to put a hand on his arm or whatever else would be necessary to stop this, but … he hadn’t done anything. Harry might have freaked out even more and he hadn’t been willing to risk this. So. He had just left him alone and had watched him basically running away when the lecture had ended.

Well, after the professor had announced that they were supposed to work together for the rest of the term.

Louis is currently on his way back to his flat, a frown on his face and with his hands deep in his pockets.

When he enters his flat a few minutes later, he finds that the only sound in there comes from Zayn breathing softly in his room, so Niall is probably still busy with his courses. Good, he needs some alone time with Zayn anyway. 

He quietly opens the door to Zayn’s bedroom, only to find the other boy fast asleep on his bed, a book lying on his chest. He smiles to himself and silently walks over to his best friend, taking the book in his hands and slapping it shut with a loud bang. Zayn jerks awake and sits up quickly.

“Asshole,” he grunts after recognizing Louis.

“Zayn, he’s a werewolf.”

“What? Who?”

“Harry.”

“ _Who_ is Harry?”

“Zayn!”

“Louis! Just tell me what the fuck you are talking about!”

“Okay, okay.” Louis takes a deep breath and then starts again. “You remember the beautiful boy from the pub? He’s in one of my classes and he’s a werewolf and he completely freaked out when I told him I know it and that I am one, too.”

“Oh my god.” Zayn lets himself fall back on the mattress. He closes his eyes for a moment and rubs his hands over his face, before he props up on his elbows and looks at Louis. “Okay, spill. I’m listening.”

Louis sits down on the bed cross-legged, fiddling with the hem of his jeans. 

“Okay, so his name is Harry and I saw him in my class today. I sat next to him and then I smelled his werewolf scent, right? Well and I thought it would be a good idea to just … break it to him. So I said ‘You are a werewolf’ and he basically started to freak out. I told him to relax and he tried to hide it, but I could see that he was really scared. On the verge of a panic attack. I didn’t know what to do and he just ran away after class. Oh, and we will have to work together for the rest of the term.” He exhales and looks at Zayn, a bit desperate. “So, what do I do?”

“What do you mean, what do you do?”

“I _have_ to make sure he’s okay. I mean, why did he freak out like I was about to attack him?”

“Oh boy.” Zayn seems to be a bit lost here, too, as he sits up again, thinking about what to say. He rubs his neck and bites his lip.

“So. I guess you just have to talk to him again. Tell him, there is no need to be scared of you and that you’ll keep his secret.”

“But I - I need to know why he reacted like this.” 

“No! No, Louis, you really can’t meddle with this boy. You know your dad would never allow this. A boy _and_ an unknown werewolf? He’d kill you on the spot.”

“Well, then he can’t know. Promise you won’t tell him.”

Louis stares at Zayn, who is looking back with a grim expression. He knows he can rely on him, they’ve been best friends since they were both kids, after all. They have been through a lot already and Zayn is the only person who knows about Louis’ preference for males. It’s no exaggeration when Louis says he would trust Zayn with his life. 

Zayn exhales sharply and runs a hand through his hair. 

“ _Of course_ I won’t tell anybody. Just be careful, okay? And keep me updated.”

Louis grins mischievously and throws himself at the other boy, so they both fall back on the mattress. Zayn grunts and wraps his arms around Louis’ middle, Louis resting his head on the other boy’s shoulder. 

“Thank you, honestly.”

“Yeah, yeah. You interrupted my nap, I obviously can’t think straight.”

“Well -”

“Oh no, don’t you fucking dare!” Honestly, Louis always had to go for these kind of jokes and Zayn had heard them all already. 

Louis laughs and pinches him in the side, but Zayn only slaps his hand away. 

“Be quiet now, I want to sleep.”

“It’s like 5 pm.”

“So?”

“So. We didn’t even have dinner.”

“We can order pizza later.”

“Okay, but you pay.”

Zayn grunts again and they both fall silent.

xxxxx

The next day, Harry finds himself in one of the practice rooms in the music department. Music always manages to calm him down, lets him think when he needs to and lets him _not_ think when he’s overwhelmed by everything and just needs a place to stay. He had spent the last twenty-four hours with pushing away all the thoughts that had shown up after his encounter with Louis, only mildly successfully. His night had been … uneasy. Thus, he had decided to visit one of the practice rooms, so his brain could concentrate on the music instead of the mess inside his head. 

He is sitting on one of the stools, tuning his guitar and trying hard not to _think_ again. When the guitar sounds right again, he starts strumming the strings, humming softly without consciously deciding what he wants to play. He just lets his mind go blank and play whatever his fingers decide. 

He plays and hums like this for an hour and is only interrupted by a knock on the door, and a second later, a blond boy steps in.

“Hey, sorry, I didn’t want to disturb you.” His eyes go wide for a second when he looks at Harry, but then a genuine smile appears on his face. “Just wanted to see who’s playing in here.”

“Oh, right.”

“I’m Niall, by the way.” His smile never falters when he walks over to shake Harry’s hand.

“Harry.” He can’t help but smile, too. “Do you play?”

Niall’s face lights up even more and he nods quickly. “Yes, I have been playing in the room down the floor. I was on my way home when I heard you and I have to say, you are quite good, you know.”

Harry blushes a bit. “Thanks. I actually just had a lot on my mind and wanted to … clear my head.”

“Yeah, music works wonders there. Do you study music? I haven’t seen you in one of the lectures, I think.”

“Oh, yes, but I also have quite a few business classes. Perhaps we just haven’t seen each other, the classes are quite big, aren’t they?”

“Yeah, probably.” He smiles again. 

“Are you in Professor Hastings’ class?” Harry likes the professor, he’s witty and passionate.

“Yes, I am.”

“Great, I am, too. We could sit together next week.” It’s actually a bigger step for Harry to ask this than it should be. 

“Deal,” Niall answers, obviously delighted. He seems to think about something and then deciding to ask, “Listen, do you want to come over to watch a film or something?”

“My flatmate’s actually waiting. We wanted to order Chinese food and watch The Amazing Spider-Man.”

“One or Two?”

“Two.” He quite likes the second movie and Electro. 

“Well, how about you bring your flatmate? We can watch at my place, I’m sure my flatmates are in for it.”

Harry hesitates. He barely knows this Niall boy, but on the other hand he really seems to be a nice guy. And he had told himself that he needed to meet new people, so. 

“Let me ask Liam first, okay?” Niall grins and Harry gets his mobile out of his pocket and dials Liam’s number. Two rings later, Liam picks up.

“Hey, I just met this guy, Niall, and he invited us to his place for our movie night.” He looks at Niall, who is still grinning. “Yeah, you sure? Okay, I’ll text you the address.” 

Niall gives him a thumbs-up and tells him where he lives, so Harry can text it to Liam and tell him to be there in ten minutes. 

“So you have more than one flatmate?” He asks when he leaves the room with Niall. There are a lot of people on their way home from classes, so they need to sidestep a couple of them occasionally. 

“Yes, two. I’m sure you’ll like them, they are quite cool.”

“And it’s okay that we just invade your place?”

“Oh yeah, I already texted them to let them know I’m bringing two friends.” Harry smiles at him, already being quite fond of this one. He’s really easy to like.

A couple of minutes later, they arrive at Niall’s building, where Liam’s already waiting. 

“Liam, that’s Niall. Niall, Liam.” They shake hands, both smiling.

“Nice to meet you. I’ve brought the film.”

“Great! And I’m starving, so let’s get inside so we can order food.”

Niall opens the entrance to the building and leads them to a door on the ground floor. He turns the keys and steps into the flat, Harry and Liam following suit. 

“Hey guys, we’re home.”

Harry looks around the living room, which is quite similar to his own but a bit larger. Then he focuses on the two people on the couch.

“Boys, this is Liam and Harry. And that’s Louis and Zayn.”

xxxxx

Louis looks up and freezes. There’s Harry standing is his living room, obviously as dumbfounded as he is. A few seconds pass, where they just stare at each other, oblivious to their surroundings. 

His gaze wanders to Zayn, who had been looking at Harry and Liam with narrowed eyes and now turns to look at Louis instead. He gives him a stern look and nods his head to Harry in a barely noticeable movement. 

“I think I should -” Harry starts, but Louis interrupts him.

“Hey, can we talk for a second?”

Niall looks from Harry to Louis in confusion and then at Zayn, as if he could offer an explanation, but Zayn merely shrugs.

“Uhm, yes, okay.” Harry seems to feel quite uncomfortable, standing there and wringing his hands. Louis gets up, throws a dark look at Niall for bringing Harry here without a warning, and leads Harry to his bedroom. Before he closes the door, he hears Zayn saying, “So, Liam, you want to stand there all night? Come on, sit down.”

Harry had followed Louis and is now standing in his room, looking at him nervously. 

“Listen, I’m sorry I ambushed you the other day. I didn’t know this was such a sensitive topic for you.”

Harry had been looking on the floor, but jerks his head up at these words. 

“It’s not. I’m okay.”

Well, needless to say that Louis doesn’t believe him one single word. He tries to look self-confident, but his posture and his clenched hands give him away. It’s everything but okay, obviously and once again, Louis is far too curious. 

“Yeah, okay. I just wanted to tell you that there is no need to panic or anything. I’m quite a friendly werewolf, you know?” He smiles at the curly-haired boy, who seems to be uncertain about all this. Louis takes a small step towards Harry, who instantly takes one back. It makes him sigh. “Listen, I’m not going to hurt you and I’m not gonna tell anyone. I’m just a fellow student who happens to be a werewolf just like you. But we can pretend none of this happened, if this makes it easier for you. Let’s just forget about this wolf thing, okay?”

Harry looks at him, apparently thinking about what Louis had said. He bites his lip and Louis has to force himself not to find this endearing. He fails. Harry takes a deep breath.

“Yeah, okay. I … I think I can do that.” He looks a bit less tense, but his shoulders and back still seem to be quite stiff. But it’s progress, isn’t it?

“Okay, great.” He’s silent for a second, not sure how to proceed from here. “Uhm, do you want to go back to the others?”

Harry nods and Louis opens the door for him. They leave his room together, Harry always keeping a bit of a distance. 

“So,” he says loudly upon entering the living room, where Zayn and Liam are sitting on the couch together and Niall’s just coming back from the kitchen with a menu of a Chinese restaurant. They had already put a variety of drinks and snacks on the table and Louis sits down on the armchair, so Harry can take the spot beside Liam on the couch. Liam moves closer to Zayn to make room for Harry, but Louis’ gaze is fixed on his best friend. Zayn blushes just the tiniest bit upon the contact of Liam’s arm on his. Louis smirks and raises an eyebrow at Zayn, who just glares at him. He had always thought that Zayn might be into boys and that he just hadn’t come to terms with this fact. Well, seems like Louis might have been right here.

“Let’s order. I’m hungry.” Niall and Liam look at him and Harry quite curiously but Louis has no intention to fill them in about what they’d talked about. He’s still a bit mad at Niall anyway. He’s sure he had just wanted to set them up and bring him and Harry together and he really couldn’t have known that this could cause trouble. But still. 

Harry had made himself more or less comfortable beside Liam and is looking through the menu Niall had given him. 

A few minutes later, they had ordered their food which is to arrive in like twenty minutes. 

“So, Liam. What are you studying?” Louis smiles at Harry’s flatmate, whose eyes look even more like those of a puppy close-up. 

“I’m doing sports. Football and swimming. But I also take business classes.”

“Am I the only one who doesn’t have any business classes?” Zayn asks.

“No, you’re not. I’m studying music. Business is boring.” Louis couldn’t agree more with Niall, who is sitting on the floor, leaning against the couch. 

“Do you know that Zayn can’t swim? He always wanted to learn, though.” Louis says with a grin, ignoring Zayn’s glare. 

“Oh, really? I - I could teach you, if you want.” Liam seems to be quite happy about this, while Zayns looks like he’s about to murder Louis.

“We’ll see,” Zayn merely says and busies himself with his phone. 

“What’s your field of studies then?” Liam addresses Zayn, obviously eager to keep up the conversation with him.

“Arts.”

“Oh, you’re an artist?” It’s the first time, Harry participates in the conversation and Louis can’t help but look at him. Okay, he had been throwing glances his way before, but well.

Zayn shrugs and doesn’t seem to want to give any more information on the topic. Louis sighs and keeps up the conversation with Liam and Niall, while Harry and Zayn remain mostly silent. 

Ten minutes later, the food arrives and they all tuck in hungrily.

“Do you want to start the movie?” Louis asks, shoving a bit of his noodles into his mouth and looking at the other boys. “What are we watching, by the way?”

“The Amazing Spider-Man 2.” 

“Emma Stone is so hot,” Niall states and Louis rolls his eyes at him. Okay, Emma Stone _is_ hot, there’s no need to deny that. 

“Some people surely think that Andrew Garfield is much hotter. Right, Louis?” Louis nearly chokes on his food after this and glares at Zayn, who is looking at him smugly. Nice comeback, really. He takes a sip of his Coke to wash down his food and glances at Harry, who is looking at him curiously. 

“Well, he _is_ handsome, isn’t he?” Liam says, unknowingly saving Louis from answering. 

He’s actually used to hiding his sexual preference from his family but he doesn’t like to hide it from his friends. With Harry … well, he’s freaked out enough already, he doesn’t have to attack him with the fact that he is gay. Not that he expects Harry to judge him for that, but … he’s not going to make things even more complicated right now.

“Yeah, well, hand me the film, will you?” Louis receives the film from Liam and stands up to put it into the DVD player. 

They start the movie and finish their food and half an hour later, they all lean back with comfortably full stomachs. Louis has seen the movie already, but enjoys watching it for the second time. He also watches Liam moving a bit closer to Zayn. Gradually, inch by inch, hiding his movements by shifting a bit when he grabs a handful of crisps or taking a sip from his drink. Louis catches Zayn’s eye once and raises an eyebrow at him, but Zayn merely looks at him like he wants to ask ‘ _What are you looking at?_ ’.  
Most of the time, he’s watching Harry, however. Low-key of course. Just little glances in between scenes. He notices three things. 

First, Harry doesn’t look even once at Louis. Second, he starts to relax. The more the film goes on, the more he seems to remove the tension from his body. Third, he really _feels_ the movie. He’s excited, he giggles - yes, he actually giggles - and at the end, when Gwen Stacy dies, there’s a tear making its way from his eye down his cheek.

Louis can’t even tell why he’s so desperately watching this boy when he obviously doesn’t want to befriend Louis in the first place. But he just can’t help it. Harry is so mesmerizing, even when he tries to suppress the sadness caused by the death of a fictional character.

The credits start to flicker over the screen and Louis stretches his arms over his head, yawning wildly. 

“Did the film bore you that much?” Harry asks him and Louis turns his head in surprise. 

“No, not at all. It was quite … entertaining to watch. I’m just tired.” He doesn’t have to tell Harry, that he watched _him_ more than the actual film. “I liked the music they used as Electro’s theme song.”

“You’re into music?”

“Sure, who isn’t? I’m even more into acting, though.” 

“Why are you studying business then?” Harry seems to be genuinely curious, but Louis just stares at him, anger boiling up inside, not directed at the curly haired boy but at the general situation. He doesn’t like to talk about his courses, okay? Or the reason he’s stuck with this bullshit instead of doing what he really loves. Harry can’t know that of course, but Louis is still not willing to share this information now. Shitty family stories are better left for other times.

There’s tension building up in the room, so Zayn jumps to his feet to get everyone’s attention. Or rather, to get the attention away from Louis.

“How about another round of drinks? Liam, your Coke is empty, you want a refill?” Liam nods with a happy smile and Zayn makes his way into the kitchen to get new drinks. Harry’s still looking at Louis, who somehow starts to feel a bit itchy.

“I’ll be right back.” He walks over to the door, quickly puts on his shoes and grabs his jacket. He steps out and soon finds himself on one of the benches in front of his building. The lawn is accurately mowed and there are giant trees everywhere, offering shade to students who decide to study outside during the day. Now, it’s mostly quiet and the only sound comes from the wind rustling through leaves that are already turning red and yellow.  
He pulls out a pack of cigarettes and puts one between his lips before lighting it. He inhales deeply and keeps the smoke inside his lungs for a few seconds before exhaling again.

Louis looks up at the partly cloudy sky and the half-moon and sighs. He is aware of the fact that he overreacted. Not that he was rude or anything, but he could have answered Harry’s question. It shouldn’t be a big deal to just say ‘my parents don’t want me to’. It should not, but it is. He hates everything about it and often tells himself that it’s really not that bad, but in the end it doesn’t make him feel any better. 

He hears footsteps coming nearer and a moment later, Zayn sits down beside him. Louis offers him a cigarette, which Zayn takes with a smile and lights it up. 

“So?”

“So?”

“What did you tell Harry earlier?”

Louis shrugs and takes another pull on his cigarette. “Just that there is no need to be scared. I won’t hurt him and we can just forget this happened.”

“He seems to be okay with it.” 

“Yeah, I’m glad.” He really is, he would have hated it if Harry had never talked to him again.

“Why the foul mood then?”

“I just don’t want to talk about why I’m studying business, you know that. Just wanted to get out for a second.”

“Mhm.” Zayn had been there the entire time, so of course he knows how much Louis hates it. He’s always by his side, Zayn is.

“What’s going on with Liam?” Louis asks, half out of curiosity, half to turn the conversation away from him.

“What do you mean?” 

Louis rolls his eyes at him and nudges his side with his elbow. “C’mon, he was all touchy on the couch, you must have noticed.”

“Yeah, well, he maybe was but I wasn’t.” Zayn throws the rest of his cigarette to the ground and crushes it with his shoe. 

“Why, though?” Louis is honestly curious. If Harry had been trying to get closer to him on a couch, he doesn’t think he would have been able to resist. 

“Let’s get back inside,” Zayn simply says and stands up, waiting for Louis to follow. It has always been like that. They were great at talking to each other when they were ready to, but they were equally good at _not_ talking when they needed exactly that. Just knowing that the other is there when it’s needed, that’s their thing. 

Louis puts out his cigarette and follows his best friend inside, where Niall, Liam and Harry are laughing about something or other. 

“You guys okay?” Niall asks, chewing on some crisps.

“Yeah, sure.” Louis smiles at the three of them and gets a tentative smile from Harry in return. 

“I actually have to get up early tomorrow, so I’ll better go.” Harry gets to his feet, followed by Liam.

“Alright, but we’ll meet up on Friday for a guitar session, yeah?” Niall and Harry seem to have discussed this earlier, as Harry nods his head frantically and then waves them goodbye. 

“Thanks for the invitation again. See you.”

“See you next week, then,” Louis says to Harry, who smiles at him again.

“Bye, Zayn.” That’s Liam, obviously. 

“Uhm, yeah, bye,” Zayn grunts and disappears into his room and a second later, Harry and Liam are gone.


End file.
